[Cephas]

"What you bind on earth, will be bound in Heaven"

In all sincerity, I would be interested in your interpretation of this passage

JMJ

[kawaii]

it applies to the Church as a whole.

[Claud]

I can’t speak for an Orthodox interpretation, but I don’t think a Catholic interpretation would be totally dismissive of kawaii’s point either. The power to bind and loose is given to the Apostles corporately in Matt 18:18 after it is given to Peter singularly in Matt 16:

http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew18.htm

To frame the issue as an either-or doesn’t quite capture the complexity of Matt’s text. The “binding and loosing” which Peter is given personally is also shared among the Apostolic College, but as a body and not singularly.

How that balance is to be achieved between the Primus and the College of Bishops is above my pay grade, but it seems clear that some sort of balance is demanded in Scripture.